An example of massage apparatuses of chair type is disclosed in Patent Literature 1. The disclosed chair-type massage apparatus comprises a seat capable of the seating of a user, a backrest provided at the rear of the seat, and a massage mechanism disposed in the backrest for massaging the back of a user.
Among chair-type massage apparatuses, some are configured to have a low-height backrest, which are called “mini couch (armed couch)-type massage apparatuses”. The chair-type massage apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is probably included in this type. Such a mini couch-type massage apparatus having a low-height backrest, while being preferred because of its appealing design as a trend, poses a certain problem due to the backrest which is lower in height than that of a common chair.
That is, even if it is desired to massage an upper part of the back, such as a shoulder, of a user by using such a mini couch-type massage apparatus, in some cases, an adequate massage cannot be performed because of the fact that a working part such as a kneading ball of the apparatus does not reach the shoulder height. The same problem may be encountered in the chair-type massage apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1.
In this regard, the chair-type massage apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is designed to be able to give a massage to, for example, user's shoulder by exploiting a system for moving the seat forward so that a user sitting on the seat can change his/her posture. More specifically, in the chair-type massage apparatus, as the seat is slidingly moved forward into a horizontal position, the buttocks of a user sitting on the seat are shifted forward correspondingly. In this way, with the backrest held in a fixed position, user's buttocks are moved forward, whereupon the user falls backward into a reclining position, and correspondingly the shoulder height is lowered. This makes it possible to give a shoulder massage to the user without the necessity of operating, for example, moving the backrest.